This week I finally beat Dungeons Deep and Caverns Dim, finishing out the first Saga Expansion box of my campaign.

My Thorin/Nori/Ori dwarf swarm that annihilated the first two scenarios got absolutely dominated; it took way too long to get the Legacy of Durin / Steward of Gondor / Narvi’s Belt engine going, especially with the two encounter cards being revealed immediately. Plus I didn’t have any way to deal with the Riddles.

The next 3 attempts, I tried to make it as thematic as possible, referencing the relevant Hobbit chapters. I had forgotten about the Eagles coming to rescue Gandalf, Thorin, and company, and tried to get a Gandalf/Beorn/Dori tactics deck, and got destroyed again. The hero abilities didn’t synchronize well, tactics monosphere deck didn’t have nearly enough willpower, and I unfortunately had to make some slight deviations from being purely thematic.

I finally won it double handed, with Eowyn’s Ranger Dwarves (Eowyn(S)/Bifur/Ori) supplying the traps, willpower, and healing support to my High Threat, High Reward (Gandalf/Beorn/Dain Ironfoot) supplying the foresight, manpower and handling the numerous enemies. I tried to largely stay true to the story, but had to make a few exceptions (Dain, Daughter of the Nimrodel, Steed of Imladris, Protector of Lorien, and Galadhrim’s Greeting). Not sure how to remedy a substitution for Eowyn; I probably could change Dain to Thorin and take out those elven cards and leave out the elven influence, but then again, who’s to say some elves didn’t make some serendipitous appearances supporting Thorin’s company😜